Gerald Hanks
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office announced five detention officers at the Harris County Jail are indicted for their parts in the brutal beating of a inmate.
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Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg stated one of the officers is indicted on a misdemeanor assault charge, while the other four are indicted on charges of aggravated assault.
Security cameras at the Harris County Jail captured footage of the September 2016 incident. The footage shows officers Salvador Garibay, Jeremy Ringle, Joshua Degler, Napoleon Harmon and Andrew Rowell attempting to subdue inmate Jerome Bartee.
The footage has not been released to the public, as prosecutors are examining it as evidence in the ongoing investigation.
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A civil suit filed after the incident stated Bartee was arrested after a traffic stop when police found drugs and a gun in a car registered to Bartee’s wife. The next day, he told officers he had a severe toothache and asked to see a doctor. The suit claimed Rowell and other officers took him into a hallway and beat him.
The surveillance footage caught most of the incident, including the point where a jail employee attempted to shut off the camera.
According to Ogg, the detention officers “caused severe injury to an inmate.” Bartee needed extensive reconstructive surgery to his face, including stitches, screws and a metal plate to reconstruct his broken orbital bone near his eye.
“The evidence shows these detention officers crossed the line when it comes to the use of force,” Ogg said.
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Since the incident, all of the officers involved are now either terminated or relieved of duty. The four charged with aggravated assault could face up to 99 years in prison. For his misdemeanor assault charge, Garibay could face up to four years in prison.
